Cauvery row: Tamil Nadu to file plea against Karnataka

Chennai, Oct 9 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu government Tuesday said it will file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court against Karnataka for stopping supply of Cauvery river waters in violation of court orders.

The decision was taken at a meeting, headed by Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, to review the situation.

The Karnataka government's unilateral decision to stop release of Cauvery waters to Tamil Nadu Monday would affect the country's federal set-up and was in contempt of the apex court's directive, the meeting's participants said.

It was also decided to file a contempt of court petition against the Karnataka government in the apex court for Tamil Nadu to get its share of the river waters.

Meanwhile, DMK president M. Karunanidhi criticised External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna for writing a letter to Singh to stop the release of Cauvery water from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu.

"A person in the union ministry should be impartial to two states. It is wrong to act in a parochial manner for political reasons," Karunanidhi, a former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, said in a statement Tuesday.

Referring to Manmohan Singh's Sep 19 order as chairman of CRA to Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, Karunanidhi said Krishna was wrong in writing to the prime minister urging him to stop the release of water.

Krishna (a former chief minister of Karnataka), in the letter, urged the prime minister "to explore possibilities of stopping further release of water from dams in Karnataka".

"I sincerely feel that the situation needs your immediate attention, if it is to be prevented from worsening, as there is already a strong feeling among people of Karnataka that they may have to face severe shortage of water in the months to come," Krishna wrote.

The Supreme Court Sep 29 ordered the Karnataka government to release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery waters as per the decision Cauvery River Authority (CRA), presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

On Sep 19, the CRA ordered Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from Sep 20 onwards till Oct 15.

Obeying the court's direction, the Karnataka government started releasing water to Tamil Nadu Sep 29, but on Monday night, stopped the supply.